Russian diplomacy is back, too

When the USSR crashed, so did its foreign ministry and its well-trained employees, who leached away into international commercial employment. Now they have regained some state support and a clear objective.

(1) denouncing US exceptionalism touched a nerve in Moscow and Washington, for different reasons. Exceptionalism exists, but resistance to the present unipolar international order motivates a more active Russian policy in international forums, where Russia can gather support for its cause.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is demanding that US troops should not be stationed in Central Asia after the end of their mission in Afghanistan, is one such forum, and so is the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which is keen to see the dollar’s role as international monetary standard reduced.

At the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg this September, Russia took the lead in a huge movement opposed to unilateral US intervention in the Middle East. The bilateral US-Russian agreement on Syria’s chemical weapons may have helped assuage Russian diplomats’ nostalgia for the past.

Around the world

Besides the permanent missions attached to international organisations, Russia’s foreign minister directs the activities of 149 embassies and 93 consulates in 190 countries. The ministry’s administration in Moscow and its missions overseas employ around 12,000, one third of them diplomats; 25% are under 30, and 80% of those are graduates of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations or the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.